OH my goodness.
Story before I begin.
Ahem.
It's Monday morning, March 1st. After District meeting 6 of us in our district (2 had to leave to an appointment) decided to go to a District lunch at George's Diner on Zerega Avenue- sounds great. We get inside get settled and order - I ordered a Jumbo Cheese burger, extra onions. Food arrives, looks great - all except for Hermana Walker's food, which hasn't come yet. I take a big bite of my hamburger and look at her, when she makes this hilarious puppy-eyed sad face and says "I've never been more hungry in my life..."
For some reason, this struck my funny-cord. I began to laugh hysterically. I bent over in a little bit of embarrassment; I was, after all, cackling like a mad-man with a bunch of food in my mouth. I sat up straight and tried to inhale. I was a little taken aback, I couldn't get any air - not even a wheeze. I tried again. Nothing. I didn't have a big reserve of air, given that I had been laughing and let out most of my air. I tried one more time, and realized, that I was, IN FACT, choking. I looked at my companion, trying not to look to panicked. I smacked him on the arm and grabbed my throat with both hands- the standard sign.
Everyone at the table began to laugh. If there was ANYBODY in the district - No- in the ZONE that would play an "Help I'm choking to death" joke it would be ME. This went on for about 10 seconds, me grabbing my neck and hitting my companion. Finally, my annoyance at the fact that nobody believed me overpowered my panic. I stood up and knocked over my glass and punched (really pretty hard) my companion and the next closest Elder to me, Elder Fox. Finally they clicked and realized I wasn't kidding, now that I was turning purple and losing balance. Everyone stood up at once, and the entire restaurant- maybe 50-60 people went dead quiet and watched as some random Italian man ran over and gave me the heimlich. I felt like I was slowly slipping into a kind of sleep... when finally the piece of hamburger became unwedged and I let out a burp like Satan himself. BUT I could breathe! I sat down in my chair and even with the whole restaurant watching - began to laugh again. Everything resumed and I felt REALLY dumb. Great story though huh? Haha my whole district felt TERRIBLE that they didn't believe me... oh man.
ANYWAY- how are you all! I'm wonderful (minus getting Heimliched, but even THAT was an adventure)! Elder Richardson and I had SUCH a cool experience this week! We were checking up on an inactive member, a man who lives alone near the bottom of our area. When we arrived we knocked and a young boy - about 9- answered the door and his eyes went wide. He ran and got his mom and yelled "LOS MISIONEROS!" The missionaries!!! His mom came and said "you found me!" Her and her sister and their 7 KIDS (3 of which are over the age of 8 and all unbaptized) came from the Dominican Republic and moved all over until recently settling in the Bronx. Turns out, (her name is Hermana Corsino) They were members back in the DR and have been looking for the church here in New York for months - but they don't have internet or phones and can't speak any English so they haven't been successful - until we found them! So awesome! She was ready to cry when she was telling us all this! She said her and her whole family are going to come to church this coming Sunday! :)
Sonia (due to some.... complications) has had her baptismal date pushed back about another week, so we're hoping and praying for March 10-16.
OH and sorry If I'm kinda shmalty at getting letters back to you all! The mail procedure here for the Missionaries is a little... rambunctious to say the least. Sometimes I don't get mail for 7-10 days AFTER it arrives here at the Mission Home, AFTER it's already taken a few days to get to New York! Thank you all so much for the Love and Support from home :)
I LOVE riding the subways. There's always some Jamacian crew beating on tomtoms and playing "Every little things gonna be alright", or a black man singing the blues. Sometimes (when I feel brave) I break into song with them and get some laughs and claps from the local Bronxers and singers on the Sub :) So FUN!
I love it So much here! AHH! It's funny, I forget that I'm a white guy. It sounds terrible but it's SO true. 99% of the people I see walking around are Hispanic or African American, so I kinda feel like one. HAHAHA the other day we got on the Subway down at 3rd Ave and there was a totally American white couple on the Sub in fancy dress clothes- I looked and thought "Hey- what are THEY doing here...?" I literally laughed out loud right there in the Subway after I realized what I had thought... I'm sorry Mom, I'm a Dominican now!! haha!! I love it!
Hermana Walker and I have a plan to go down into the subway station near where our areas touch and sing Hymns while our companions contact and hand out Pass-Along cards and free "learn Ingles" cards to everyone that passes! It's gonna be sick! The acoustics down there are SO awesome- all echoey and cathedral-like. :)
I'm the Ward organist, musical number-ist, Relief society pianist, and Gospel Doctrine's class pianist. Beautiful. Sad and kinda ironic, the old man in the ward that USUALLY plays the Organ had a Heart-Attack 2 days after I got to New York and has been out-of-commission ever since...
It's SO incredible to see the change that the Gospel can bring into people's lives. I've only been here what - 30-some-odd days - and I've already seen hearts soften, families heal, and the Tender Mercies of the Lord enter into even the hardest of situations.
I'm getting WAY better at contacting in Spanish! I have my questions and phrases ready, build up the courage... "come on B, Come on B..." and probably scare the heck of the person I'm trying to contact because I'm SO NERVOUS that my confidence-walk turns into a nervous run and my opening line kinds comes out like a scream.... "HOLA SOMOS LOS MISIONEROS!!!!! TENEMOS UN MENSAJE!!!"
BUT I’m improving! haha!! Oh man :)
I've discovered one of the most INCREDIBLE places on the face of this PLANET. 99 CENTS STORES. 99 cent EVERYTHING. Bahaha it's WONDERFUL! Especially as a Misionary, with a pretty strict budget! They are awesome!! :)
WELL I must leave now, Much to do!! Love you all!
B Safe! B Happy! B Healthy!
Always and Forever,
Elder Hellberg!
ANYWAY- how are you all! I'm wonderful (minus getting Heimliched, but even THAT was an adventure)! Elder Richardson and I had SUCH a cool experience this week! We were checking up on an inactive member, a man who lives alone near the bottom of our area. When we arrived we knocked and a young boy - about 9- answered the door and his eyes went wide. He ran and got his mom and yelled "LOS MISIONEROS!" The missionaries!!! His mom came and said "you found me!" Her and her sister and their 7 KIDS (3 of which are over the age of 8 and all unbaptized) came from the Dominican Republic and moved all over until recently settling in the Bronx. Turns out, (her name is Hermana Corsino) They were members back in the DR and have been looking for the church here in New York for months - but they don't have internet or phones and can't speak any English so they haven't been successful - until we found them! So awesome! She was ready to cry when she was telling us all this! She said her and her whole family are going to come to church this coming Sunday! :)
Sonia (due to some.... complications) has had her baptismal date pushed back about another week, so we're hoping and praying for March 10-16.
OH and sorry If I'm kinda shmalty at getting letters back to you all! The mail procedure here for the Missionaries is a little... rambunctious to say the least. Sometimes I don't get mail for 7-10 days AFTER it arrives here at the Mission Home, AFTER it's already taken a few days to get to New York! Thank you all so much for the Love and Support from home :)
I LOVE riding the subways. There's always some Jamacian crew beating on tomtoms and playing "Every little things gonna be alright", or a black man singing the blues. Sometimes (when I feel brave) I break into song with them and get some laughs and claps from the local Bronxers and singers on the Sub :) So FUN!
I love it So much here! AHH! It's funny, I forget that I'm a white guy. It sounds terrible but it's SO true. 99% of the people I see walking around are Hispanic or African American, so I kinda feel like one. HAHAHA the other day we got on the Subway down at 3rd Ave and there was a totally American white couple on the Sub in fancy dress clothes- I looked and thought "Hey- what are THEY doing here...?" I literally laughed out loud right there in the Subway after I realized what I had thought... I'm sorry Mom, I'm a Dominican now!! haha!! I love it!
Hermana Walker and I have a plan to go down into the subway station near where our areas touch and sing Hymns while our companions contact and hand out Pass-Along cards and free "learn Ingles" cards to everyone that passes! It's gonna be sick! The acoustics down there are SO awesome- all echoey and cathedral-like. :)
I'm the Ward organist, musical number-ist, Relief society pianist, and Gospel Doctrine's class pianist. Beautiful. Sad and kinda ironic, the old man in the ward that USUALLY plays the Organ had a Heart-Attack 2 days after I got to New York and has been out-of-commission ever since...
It's SO incredible to see the change that the Gospel can bring into people's lives. I've only been here what - 30-some-odd days - and I've already seen hearts soften, families heal, and the Tender Mercies of the Lord enter into even the hardest of situations.
I'm getting WAY better at contacting in Spanish! I have my questions and phrases ready, build up the courage... "come on B, Come on B..." and probably scare the heck of the person I'm trying to contact because I'm SO NERVOUS that my confidence-walk turns into a nervous run and my opening line kinds comes out like a scream.... "HOLA SOMOS LOS MISIONEROS!!!!! TENEMOS UN MENSAJE!!!"
BUT I’m improving! haha!! Oh man :)
I've discovered one of the most INCREDIBLE places on the face of this PLANET. 99 CENTS STORES. 99 cent EVERYTHING. Bahaha it's WONDERFUL! Especially as a Misionary, with a pretty strict budget! They are awesome!! :)
WELL I must leave now, Much to do!! Love you all!
B Safe! B Happy! B Healthy!
Always and Forever,
Elder Hellberg!
No comments:
Post a Comment